• Womble@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Can you tell me next weeks lottery numbers too?

    That is the likely outcome but its by no means certain. If you’d have asked in 1800 its likely people would have said the aristocracy would get all the benefit from industrialisation but that ended up not being how things went

      • Womble@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        To say that you know something implies a very high level of certainty. I know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, that I need air to breathe and water freezes at 0 degrees. No one “knows” how society will be shaped in 20 years time, so no we do not know how it will be used and who will benefit.

        • gapbetweenus@feddit.de
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          8 months ago

          Or, colloquially it’s used to describe something you just expect to happen. It does not mean that one literally knows. Obviously it’s more tricky with online communication since you don’t know me and don’t see my face.